Charles Sumner is caned by Preston BrooksPopular political cartoon that illustrated the caning of Senator Charles Sumner by Representative Preston Brooks

Charles Sumner, one of the first abolitionists elected to the Senate, is caned by Preston Brooks as the other Senators watch. Brooks was a relative of Andrew Butler, whom Sumner had made fun of during his famous "Crime Against Kansas" speech. Each time Sumner would say Butler he would stutter (Butler had a stutter). Sumner also verbally insulted the aging Butler, who at the time was in South Carolina on his deathbed.